Showalter says Wednesday's rain delay was too long to bring back Arrieta

Eduardo A. Encina

Orioles manager Buck Showalter said Wednesday’s 43-minute rain delay was too long to allow starter Jake Arrieta to continue his outing when the game resumed in the sixth inning. Instead, he went to right-hander Tommy Hunter, who struck out the first two batters he faced, then gave up back-to-back solo homers to Daniel Nava and Jarrod Saltalamacchia.

“It would have been around 50 minutes before he threw his first pitch,” Showalter said of Arrieta. “I think that was a little too much, especially with the weather and the time of the year. [At 20 minutes], I’d consider it more. … The thing was we were hitting [when the game resumed in the top of the sixth], so you didn’t know how long that inning was going to be, so you had to start getting somebody loose. And if we hit for 20 minutes, then you’re talking about over an hour. It was well over that mark.”

Arrieta, who retired the Red Sox in order in the fifth and was at 71 pitches, spent the delay in the clubhouse riding the exercise bike to stay warm.

“They wanted to be careful because it's early in the year,” said Arrieta, who allowed three runs on three hits and walked four — two of which scored. “I was a little upset about that, but they have my best interests as well as the team's in mind. Me having a low pitch count, [I felt] like I had two or three more innings to give, keep some of the guys in the bullpen that didn't need to throw [Wednesday], but that's things we're going to have to kind of deal with throughout the year, especially early when the weather is bad.”

Showalter didn’t discount the notion that he could make Arrieta available out of the bullpen over the next few games, or even use him as an option if the Orioles are forced to play a double header with bad weather expected in New York this weekend.

Around the horn

The cab that pitchers Chris Tillman and Miguel Gonzalez were riding in to the ballpark Thursday was hit from behind, but both were fine. … Showalter said that Mychal Givens — the Orioles’ second-round pick in 2009, who has been converted from shortstop to pitcher — was throwing 92-94 mph in his 1 1/3 hitless relief innings for Class-A Delmarva on Wednesday night.